Denny Hamlin praises 'exceptional' COTA race as huge win for NASCAR, breaks down why

Denny Hamlin decided to heap some praise on this past weekend’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), believing it was an awesome event for the NASCAR Cup Series.

While Hamlin didn’t exactly have a performance to write home about, as he came home P21 when it was all said and done, he took an objective point of view on the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast. The veteran wheelman went as far as to say the race was “exceptional,” believing the reconfiguration and tires utilized contributed to a resounding success.

“This was an exceptional race. It was a race where tires mattered,” Hamlin proclaimed. “[Christopher] Bell had just slightly better tires than Kyle Busch. Chase Elliott charged through the field from P21, and those last 15 laps to finish in the top five. This is quintessential NASCAR racing, from years of old. When you pit, you have an advantage. That’s a good thing. Now, there’s overtaking. You have comers and goers. This was just a huge win.

“I think that a lot of credit is to be spread around on what we saw yesterday. I think 50% is track reconfiguration. We had more laps. You were able to attack, you know, more and more corners there. You didn’t have so much straightaway. It was a lot of corners. And the other 50% is the Goodyear tire. This was a good, good tire that had great fall off. And it promoted some just fantastic racing.

“… There’s four cars battling for the lead with five to go. And it just was fantastic. There’s no, I mean — road course racing was this car’s kryptonite. You know, I felt like, you know, short tracks and road courses. But since we have gone to this super, super soft tire — we saw the Martinsville race from the playoffs last year. We saw what it did [Sunday].”

Alas, it’s easy to see why Hamlin is so enthusiastic following this past Sunday’s trip to Austin. As he alluded to, the battle between Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch was something to behold, and then the eventual race winner in Bell holding off William Byron and Tyler Reddick upped the ante. 

Additionally, it was a nice change of pace to see some of the best wheelmen in NASCAR able to race back to the line in a fair, clean fashion. There wasn’t much beating and banging, and it was still a finish fans, fellow drivers and media members alike can be proud of. 

We’ll see what Phoenix Raceway brings this weekend as an encore, even if it’s a completely different style of track. Denny Hamlin will certainly be a factor, as he’s performed well at the venue in the desert throughout his career.